March 1957

Purchase To Read More

Digital Issue ?Read or download this issue’s articles online. *A printed copy of this issue is not included. $7.99

Print + Digital All Access Subscription ?Read or download this issue’s articles online. Plus, subscribe to get Print, Online and Tablet access to the next 12 new issues to be released as well as Online access to archives back to 1845. $99.00

Features

Fresh Water from Salt

The thirst of civilization now presses hard upon the naturally available supply of fresh water. It is easy enough to desalt sea water, but it must be done cheaply, abundantly and soon

By David S. Jenkins

The Child and Modern Physics

A Swiss psychologist experiments with babies, including his own, and comes to the conclusion that their view of reality has much in common with that of the sophisticated physicist

By Jean Piaget

The Crab Nebula

It shines with a strange sort of light that gives evidence of a wholly unexpected natural phenomenon. This glowing body of gas is apparently a gigantic electron synchrotron

By Jan H. Oort

Hormones

These potent biological substances are called the chemical messengers of the body. They may also be viewed as members of a larger system which integrates the phenomena of life

By Sir Solly Zuckerman

Frozen Free Radicals

Molecular fragments, which normally have a fleeting existence during chemical reactions, can now be preserved by rapid cooling. The study of their properties is an exciting new field of research...

By Arnold M. Bass and Charles M. Herzfeld

Galen

This renowned physician of the ancient world established experimental physiology. Although the customs of his time forbade the dissection of the human body, he learned much about it by operating on animals...

By Frederick G. Kilgour

The Jewish Community of Rome

How do social forces mold the evolution of man? The answer is sought by a geneticist and a sociologist, father and son, in a community which has kept its identity for 2,000 years

By Leslie C. and Stephen P. Dunn

Pursuit of a Disease

Porphyria, a rare hereditary condition which may become fatal when patients receive drugs, was found to be unusually common in South Africa. It has been traced to an early Dutch settler

By Geoffrey Dean

Departments

50 and 100 Years Ago: March 1957

Science and the Citizen: March 1957

Letters

Letters to the Editors, March 1957

Recommended

Books

Mathematical Recreation

Mathematical Games

Amateur Scientist

The Amateur Scientist

Departments

The Authors

Bibliography

Purchase To Read More

Digital Issue ?Read or download this issue’s articles online. *A printed copy of this issue is not included. $7.99

Print + Digital All Access Subscription ?Read or download this issue’s articles online. Plus, subscribe to get Print, Online and Tablet access to the next 12 new issues to be released as well as Online access to archives back to 1845. $99.00

Expertise. Insights. Illumination.

Discover world-changing science. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners.

Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www.springernature.com/us). Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers.